True Strength
by Homerthe27
Summary: A long time has passed since the fall of Beacon since Pyrrha's death. Jaune Arc confronts Cinder for all the evil she has committed, he is no longer the boy who had snuck his way into Beacon.


**I am a big fan of rwby and volume 3 broke me a little bit. So here is my way to pass the time for Volume 4. As for when this happens in the series though let's just say far in the future no concrete time and place. let's just say a snowy forest or whatever.**

* * *

Cinder spent months prepping for the fall of Beacon. Scanning hundreds of teams for possible host Ozpin would choose to take the Fall Members place, seeing which team would pose a threat to her remembered what it felt, the power of the Fall maiden entering her body, complete and whole, she truly knew what it meant to be invisible with the power of the seasons burning through her veins. Despite her unfortunate setbacks, she was ready to full power to serve Salem by her side. Not even Ozpin stood a chance at her. She was no longer the weak and brittle little girl all those years ago. She was now one of the strongest women alive.

"Cinder!" A voice roared behind her

Cinder turned and before her, stood Jaune Arc. She remembered him, leader of the now debunked Team JPNR, partner to the Late Pyrrha Nikos. last she saw him, he was failing to protect the former fall maiden from her. A long time has passed since that day.

"Well well if it isn't the little boy who lied" she replied

Arc looked at her. His blue eyes staring her down, she remembered forcing him to the ground

"So you remember me." Said Arc "I am touched"

Cinder held out her palm and realized a small flame from her hand. Reminding him of his failure to protect Amber the former Fall Maiden. The young man made all of this possible.

"How could I forget," she said coldly "So what brings you here Mr. Arc."

Arc draws his sword "Crocea Mors" a relic of the great war, and bronze shield. Cinder remembered it as Akoúo the Ms. Nikos's shield. She knew it all too well from their fight before she ended Ms. Nikos life of course.

"I see," Cinder said. The word around Beacon was that Arc and Nikos that were close, not that close if she remembered it right. If perhaps given time. She knew why he's here. He wants to avenge his late partner.

She pretended to smile "How cute"

She then launched fire at him. Arc was quick to dodge them and then preceded to charge at her with his sword height and his voice higher.

Men thought cinder, why do they engage in such antics.

She evaded easily him, jumping over his back summoning the ground below him to explode. She had studied his fights at Beacon and everything else that was on him. She knew the moment she laid eyes on him that he was a fraud. He faked his way into the school right under Ozpin's nose the man did make more mistake than anyone else. Letting Arc in was proof of that.

Cinder heard the explosion behind her, "How expected Mr arc, always so predict . . ." she started but didn't finish because Jaune Arc fired our behind her and kicked the fall Maiden in the Face.

"Wah?" Cinder spurted out. looked at her then back at Arc and saw his shield glowing with heat. He had used the shield as projectile launching himself toward her. A smart move she thought. No matter, even idiots have good instincts.

Arc looked back at her. His blue eyes stared at her angerly. "I am no longer the scared little boy stuck in the tree, now I will fight for my life."

Cinder commanded the dust around her and birthed her weapon A sword bow and fired a volley of arrows at him. He then proceeded to cut down every single one of her arrows. Impressive thought Cinder. There is some truth to his claim, not enough to threaten her, of course, the all-powerful Fall Maiden. She decides to play his game for now. She detached the bow reverting it back to the twin blades.

"Oh?" she laughs " I doubt that"

He charged at her again. Swinging his sword with the speed of a Borbatusk, and strength of a Goliath and she countered every one of his attacks. Every swing she blocked with ease. with every swing of his sword, she's burned brighter and brighter. When Arc came for a vertical approach she simply side swept it and the sword made a crater on impact. Using her powers Cinder flew above him gaining the high ground.

"my oh my" Cinder said mockingly "Having a little tantrum are we"

She then summoned the power within her. The sweet heat that always burned in her roared into reality and narrowed it at the young arc. A Pillar erupted from her palm and headed toward him. Arc had just enough time to lift Nikos's shield to block her attack. Cinder could no longer feel time pass as she pressed on, the heat and the smell of smoke overwhelmed her senses. She became so distracted that she almost didn't notice him rolling off the attack. He then tried to knock her down threw his shield at her, she effortlessly moves out of the way.

"Nikos tried that trick last time, " she said, "Do you really think that I haven't gotten wise to it . . ."

She couldn't finish her sentence since Arc's shield came crashing to the back of her skull. Arc's has thrown Akoúo in such a way that it ricocheted the trees behind her and was flown right back at her head.

"I am not Pyrrha" Arc stated "But I will defeat you with what she has left behind,"

Her Aura protected from the impact but she still felt the full force of the hit. She was disorientated for a few seconds but a few seconds was all that Arc needed. He drew his sword and let out a huge of Aura Strike aimed at Cinder. His aim was true, sending her flying toward the ground.

"Like I said" Jaune Arc proclaimed "I am no longer stuck in the tree"

Cinder didn't know what that even meant, but she did not care. Jaune Arc was nothing to her, the Fall Maiden, now seemed a perfect time to remind him. She stopped herself from falling and reached deep inside herself. She pulled out all her hatred of humanity. He is making a mockery of the power that she earned, her birthright. Her vision blurred with a tint of orange, of fire. She was now committed to watching Arc burn just like his partner.

"Ohh," Arc said. He took him a deep breather and took up his stance waiting for Cinder to attack

She commanded her sword now brightly aflame. Arc took the challenged and charged at her with all his might. Their blades interlocked in brilliant flashes of white and orange. From a distance, it could be mistaken for a wildfire spreading across the snowy forest. Arc would not relent his attack, he was giving it his all to match Cinder, but Cinder was not. In a quick way to repeat a cheap hit, Arc threw his shield Cinder then preceded to continue to fight him. When the shield ricocheted behind her she turned around caught and hit Arc with it. Then countered that with a strike to the stomach knocking him back to the ground.

"You don't understand do you?" asked Cinder "The power I have earned, that I achieved " Still holding Akoúo in her hands. Arc tried to stand back up. Cinder put him back down with a firm kick.

"The power I have is the pulls from seasons, a force of NATURE." She declares holding up Akoúo. "That night of her death Nikos, with her final breath, spoke of Destiney, This is mine". Cinder reached down and connected with the Power of Fall. The season end of everything that marked the transition from life to death. She commanded the power of the heavens and struck her opponents shield. Breaking it into pieces fraction. Cinder let the fragments go and watched the angry look as Arcs face piece by piece fell. buried in the oncoming snow. Cinder saw in his eyes a fire burning, the last thing left of Pyrrah was nothing short of a jigsaw.

Arc charged at cinder once more.

"Oh Arc," said Cinder Disappointedly "You are so predictable"

She steep-sided his attack and disarmed him. Then commanded the ice below her to become shards and launched them at him like spears. Arc had no more to shield to protect him and felt the full force of her wrath. To finish him off she reached down and felt the earth below Arc and forced the ground to explode. It went off much more violently than her previous attempt. Jaune Arc laid on the ground, his aura depleted and his strength was gone. Cinder approached him slowly, her red dress slightly worn from the skirmish. Mr. Arc surprised her, he indeed was no the same boy who snuck into Beacon. After all, this time, he could tie with Nikos, but she even she had nothing on her. The power of the Maidens gave her the strength once again, not that she needed but it.

"After all, this time, all your energy all your power is nothing," she stated blankly as she walked toward him. "Your strength is gone, while mine is everlasting, eternal and unlimited"

Arc stirred he coughed violently as he rolled onto his stomach. Grasping for life. Cinder stopped in front him

"Jaune Arc?" she asked, looking into her eyes "Do you believe in Destiney?" Ms. Nikos final words would be the last he would ever hear, now at the very end. Arc mumbled something under his breath

"What was that," Cinder asked him in a falsely nice tone

Arc looked into the eyes much like Ms. Nikos did on the top of the CCT. He then got to his knees and stood right back up

"Your Wrong Cinder," said Arc sternly "you're only gotten weaker"

Rage burned through Cinder like nothing before. And with that remark white-hot fire erupted from her palm. Incinerating Arc where he stood leaving a giant bonfire where he stood. She turned around and walked into the forest. That idiot what did he know of power Cinder thought I am the Maiden of Fall matched only by Salem herself.

"What a fool," said Cinder

"I have been called worse," said a voice behind her

She turned and all the color left her face. It was not possible.

"No" she whimpered

There before her stood Arc in the flesh. How could this be his aura is gone he had nothing. How was he here?

"You still don't get do you Cinder?" he said while walking towards her.

Cinder Reached down deep, she brought the burning sensation that always roared inside her. To the untapped power of fall and brought outside. She rowed Firing a supernova blast onto Arc. The trees around them began to burn. Arc was still there unphased and unscratched still walking toward her.

"You will always be weak," he tells her " always be fragile"

"SHUT UP" Cinder yelled at him. She launched more fire at him and each time the fire just washed off of him. He held out his hands and behind him, Crocea Mors and the pieces of Akoúo came together becoming once more.

"What? How did you?" asked cinder. This was impossible, Arc semblance isn't polarity, it wasn't anything.

"Like I said Cinder," said Arc "Pyrrha power is with me now"

How? This wasn't possible Ms. Nikos has been dead for a long time, how could she still be here with him? She looked up and saw red aura and white aura surrounding him like some sort of misty. She commanded the lighting, the power of heaven, to strike down Arc.

"That is the difference between you and me Cinder," he said nonchalantly. As he raises Akoúoin the air and the Lightning strike it. The Shield holds and Arc continues walking toward cinder getting all the closer to her.

She draws her sword and charges at him. She attacks him with full force no holding back, but Arc Parry's every move and their blades clash

"And what is that?" she asked him.

"Its that you're alone," he says blankly.

This catches her off guard and Arc swiftly kicks in the gut launching her back 30 feet into a tree. Depleting her of her Aura. Not possible she thought, this is a dream and nightmare it has to be. She is powered by the seasons, how could this child be getting the better of her, the Fall Maiden. More power, she thought more power just a little bit more and he will BURN. She reached down deeper than she ever thought she could ever do and launched a volley of Ice and Glass at Arc. Just like Ozpin during the battle of Beacon. He deflected them all without moving but moving all the same.

"WHY DONT YOU JUST DIE" She yelled in fury and anger. She draws her arrow and fires at his hand. The Arrow makes its mark and penetrates his wrist. Dropping his sword and the shards bombard him and he drops his shield. The out of nowhere Cinder drops to her Knees.

"AARG" She screams.

The pain she felt it all over her body, a sharp pain like someone had stabbed her a thousand times.

"What is this?" she says trying to stand back up "What magic is this?"

"Our Semblance," said. Arc still walking towards her. "and the difference between you and me in our strength, why you will never win"

"Shut Up," Cinder said angerly. How? How was he not only keeping up with her and out doing her? No, she just has to fight fire with fire and she has much of that just ready to be unleashed

"You stole that power, it was never yours to have, you never earned it. You ripped out of someone else's soul for, nothing more than personal gain and satisfaction," Arc said. still walking towards her. "

Cinder remembered Amber or what she did know of her. She clearly remembered how she followed Arc Nikos and Ozpin to the Vault. Where they planned to transfer Amber's aura to Nikos in a last-ditch effort to stop the other half of the Maidens power to come back to Cinder. If that old fool did not interfere when she had Amber none of this would have transpired.

"I became strong because of my friends from Pyrrha, Norra, Ren, Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Weiss. For them, I became strong so that no one will lose someone they love"

"I am the Fall Maiden and I command You to DIE," She said. launching Fire after Fire at the boy but, like always it did not set it washed off like a wave on the shore. The forest around them burned the snow on the ground was now ash. Again and again, she volleyed fire at had caught up with her. She tried to fight back but Arc swiftly knocked her down against the tree. Arc looked down at her, and for the first time in a long long time, Cinder felt true fear, powerless to fight

"My power comes from our blood our sweat, our tears, and our love. Their love drove me to be strong that is where my strength comes from." he raised his hand up showing the Red and White Aura surrounding him. "Pyrrha's love unlocked my power a long time ago. Our souls are now intertwined for eternity. That, Cinder is the difference between us." He then punched her in the face knocking her down.

"Learn from it," he said taking his leave walking away

Cinder looked into his eyes and saw determination and power. Those eyes stared straight into her soul. He turned around and started to summon Akoúo and Crocea Mors back to his side. Before he summoned his weapons, Cider had quietly she forged a knife of glass, behind her. She ran up to Jaune's back.

Let him join his beloved in the beyond.

She once more brought her hatred, her darkness, and all the cruelty she has ever know. She used that power on the knife. To finally end Jaune and once and for all cement herself without a doubt as one the strongest beings in all Remnant. She stabbed him in the back and he let out a yell and fell to his knees. Cinder then turned to face her enemy once more. She had enough of him and with what strength she had left she used to ram her fist into his face over and over till his face was bruised and bloody and she knocked him back to the ground. She leaned down and grasped his throat, she wanted to feel him die to feel the moment when the color would leave his eyes forever, just like amber just like his old partner, and countless more before them. She summoned a knife her hand still on Jaunes's neck determined to make one show of her power before he leaves remnant forever

"Give my regards to Ms. Nikos," she said coldly as she raises her flaming knife in the air for one last swing

Then Cinder felt cold, a sudden chill had taken over all over her body followed by crippling pain. She could no longer breathe, she tried but it feels like her lungs were trapped she could not get enough air. Her strength started to fade away. What was happening? The knife started to fade back into dust in her hands. She reached down her side and felt something warm it was blood. What did he do? She looks down to see and saw that Jaune had stabbed her, with a fragment from Miló, Pyrrha spear, lodged in her side. The same spear that she destroyed all those years ago.

"Her name is Pyrrha," Jaune said removing the fragment from her side "and tell you can her yourself"

Cinder tried to get back up to finish Jaune it wasn't over, it can't be over. She was the fall Maiden, servant of Salem her story could not end here. The fall maiden fell to the ground. As her vision starts to fade, she saw Jaune turning his back to back her before summoning his weapon and his shield to his side and walked off into the distance. He looked at Cinder one last time and disappeared in the white. Cinder refused, she needed to kill him, she has to. She laid down there in her own blood and ashes surrounded by a flaming forest. She reached down inside herself to bring out the power to its brightest extent, she needed to.

 _but there was nothing there, and her vision faded._

* * *

 **Longest Chapter I have ever written. Thanks for sticking the whole way through, I hope we get some conflict in the show. Maybe one day I will write this chapter with Jaune POV**


End file.
